Chapter Text
Things have been weird lately. More so than usual, you guess. The world seems to be spiraling out of control; the weather is unpredictable, people are making drastic, out-of-character choices. It feels like…something is wrong. Like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. Entire months, sometimes years, seem to just…go missing, like the memory of them has been removed. April is right around the corner, right? No, no, it's June. But Christmas is next week. You can't find a calendar for the right year anymore. It's 20××. Or is it 20××? Nobody seems to know anymore.
You blink awake, groggy and confused. It's that perfect time of day where you can't tell whether it's early morning or late evening, and a slight panic sets in. What time is it? You grab your phone, and 12:00 flashes on the screen rhythmically like a stove clock after losing power. Is it supposed to do that? Flicking your thumb up the screen in an attempt to unlock it, it simply phases through your hand and disappears in a small cloud of…pixels? This startles you, and you pull your hand away from the mess as it fizzles into your blanket. What the fuck was that? You've gotta be dreaming. You wobbled to your knees, leaning over to peek through the curtains over your window, and freeze. The sky is black. Like really, truly black. A complete absence of color. You wonder, briefly, where the sunlight could be coming from, before the world shakes violently. A flash of red from the corner of your eye catches your attention, and your neighbor's tree is 30ft in the air. You lean against the window sill, trying to get a better look, when it disappears, leaving you tumbling, head first, two stories down to your certain death. You try to close your eyes in preparation for the impact, and collide with….nothing. Everything is gone, everything is black, and you’re freefalling.
–
Error dusts himself off, satisfied with his last deletion. He'd managed to fend off Ink long enough to get it done, sending the annoying brat to some backwater AU for the moment. If that universe had existed any longer, it was going to corrupt the adjacent ones, and that would cause a messy and annoying domino effect that he didn't want to deal with. He let out a static-y sigh, wanting nothing more than to sit down and watch his ‘shows’. He was missing important developments, damn it! Would Y/N choose to keep dating Underfell Sans, or would Papyrus break them up? He needed to know! He would, unfortunately, miss that part as the Void shuddered around him. A shiver crawled up his spine as he looked around for the source, growing more anxious by the second.
The Void is, by nature, unchanging. It’s the space in between, the nothingness that holds everything in place. Sure, there are…things. Things that reside in the Void, things that have existed since the birth of everything…but nothing living remains in the Void, because there is no life, no death. Just nothing. Even the Anti-Void is a pocket dimension where Error can live, where the Void cannot swallow him whole. Death himself can’t stay in the Void for long, unless he’d rather not exist at all. So what is that, in the distance? The faintest glimmer of purple, growing fainter by the second, being claimed by the Void. Perseverance.
Someone survived his handiwork. No. No no no no. That’s not allowed! It’ll ruin everything it touches! He tugs at his eyesockets in frustration, growing more unstable. “This i–is Ink’s fault–fault–fault, fuuuuu–%#^^&$in–g assh0le! I ca—-n’t even g-g-g-GET my job done! I’m gonna kill tha–t dick when I see him againnnnnnn.” Error shortcuts closer, only for the soul to disappear entirely. “W-w-wait, where–”
A massive clawed hand slams down from the darkness, and he narrowly dodges the attack. He can feel the Void pressing in on him, reminding him of how little time he has left before it makes a meal of him. This entity, this…creature starts to take form, rearing up on short, stocky digitigrade legs, bearing the weight of its broad, muscular upper body, its arms and hands thick and claw-tipped. Wings burst from its back, long and insectile, and last to take shape is its head; noseless, many-eyed, with a strong jaw lined with sharp teeth. A massive horn juts from its crown, and its face is framed by twitching mandibles. That purple Perseverance shines from its sockets, and it lets out a Void-shaking roar. Error has known the Void to make monsters into monsters; he’s met Gaster, and variations of, but this is new to him.
The creature attacks again, using predictable moves that even a babybones could dodge, and he shortcuts out of the way, summoning a blaster. He lets off a round, and it dissipates on the creature with a sad sizzle. “O-of course you have a—-rmor, you disgustinggggg freak!” He shortcuts again, and has to immediately dodge a swing from its tail. “Oh c–00l, a tail! How–w–w original!”
It roars again, and Error fires off another blast, aiming for an unarmored section of its ribs. This one hits, and it stumbles, shrieking in pain before lashing out with its claws again. Error simply takes a step back, a smug grin on his face, before he gets thrown back by a purple arrow projectile piercing through his ribs. The Void presses in once more, whispering sweet nothings about his ultimate unmaking, and he makes the executive decision to get the fuck out of there. But he can’t leave a glitch unattended. It’ll stick its gross, glitchy hands all over everything and make a bigger mess than it already is. He sighs, dodging another projectile. Who does he know outside the Void, outside of an AU, outside of the Main Timeline? Error grins, summoning several more blasters, and a strategic portal behind the creature. The blasters unleash, moving the beast inch by inch until it makes contact with the portal, disappearing in a satisfying ‘pop!’. “Thi-i-i-is sounds like a Nightmare pro—-blem! By3!”
–
What comes into view when you open your eyes is not at all what you were expecting. You were laying in a beautiful garden, at the base of an old stone bench. Towering above you were rows of ancient Japanese wisteria, woven into an incredible purple canopy. Strings of crystals hung from the branches, twinkling like tiny stars, and when the breeze moved them, they sounded like delicate chimes. Rows of lavender lined a mossy stone path leading to what looked like a pond, but without your glasses, you were limited in what details you could make out. Tall black brambles covered in tiny white flowers seemed to form walls in and around the garden itself, and in the distance, you could see the tall tower of what looked to be a castle. Where the hell were you?
The peace was, unfortunately, cut short by a red knife slicing through your shoulder. A strangled gasp was all you could afford before another one came at you, and you quickly ducked down to avoid it. “i didn’t know the boss got us a pet, horror!”
You hear the voice before you spot its owner; a short skeleton with a glowing red target on its chest, followed by a much taller, broader one. Fear in the form of acid burns in your throat, and you stumble to your feet, already looking for an escape.
The tall one lifts his head to look in your direction, and all you can make of his features is the bloated red eyelight that sits in one of his sockets. “why is she…in her pajamas? seems…weird. we should tell nightmare…” He trails off, looking toward the castle, and the other one scoffs.
“how did she get here if boss didn't bring her? it's been ages since we went on a mission! i bet this is a present! for like, good behavior or whatever.” You feel his gaze intensify, and it puts dread into your very core. “i call dibs!”
He disappears for a second before slamming his knife deep into your shoulder, knocking the two of you down. You shriek in pain while he straddles you, ripping the knife out and readying it for another stab. He grins so wide you swear it would crack his skull in half. “you're gonna love this.” He plunges it next to the first wound, and you think you're screaming, but the world feels muffled, muted. You let your eyes roll toward the flowers overhead as the color drains from them, leaving everything monochrome. The skeletal freak looms overhead, disgusting black liquid pouring out of his sockets onto your face. You start to go numb, your limbs heavy, when an orange light catches your eye behind his head. A box, the edges blurry and shaking.
ACT.
CONSUME.
“wait, i didn't start an encounter, did i?” Killer shortcuts away as the human is enveloped in black smoke, replacing her with this…thing that reeks like the Void. “so uhh…maybe nightmare doesn't know about her. oops.”
Horror summons his axe with a heavy sigh, running his free hand down his face. “why d'ya always gotta cause trouble…”
The creature roars and scrambles out of the garden, leaving a trail of purple ichor in its wake. It crouches low, preparing to take off, and Killer takes the opportunity to throw several more knives, damaging one of its wings. It roars again, trying to shake off the pain before whirling around to face Killer on foot. “this is too easy, dude. fight back!” He laughs, dodging its claws with ease, circling around to land a few more stabs at the gaps in its armor plates. Horror is watching from the sidelines, a growing sense of unease as his eyelight flicks between the fight and the window of Nightmare's office.
Killer rushes forward again, attempting a fake out, when he's caught between its mandibles with a sickening crunch. He wheezes, struggling to get away while it slowly crushes his ribs, his HP dropping rapidly. Horror rushes forward with a shout, and he receives a purple arrow though his leg for it, pinning him in place. Killer is clawing uselessly at the creature's face, his grin strained. “didn't even–buy me dinner first–that's just rude.”
“I'm not entirely sure you deserve dinner at this point, Killer. I'm disappointed.” The smooth, deep voice rang out over the garden with such a finality that it seemed to freeze everything in place. A figure rose from the shadows of the castle's doorway, gleaming tentacles caressing the stones as he descended the stairs to the garden proper. He sighed, surveying the damage before turning his cyan eyelight to the trio. Horror shied away from his gaze, while Killer continued to squirm in the creature's grip.
“I thought I felt a new presence in my realm. You reek of Error, however. That annoying pest needs to deal with his own problems, instead of dumping them in my garden.” He walks forward, stopping just a few feet away, and cocks his skull at the creature. “An interesting thing, but you're no good to me like this. Not yet, anyway.” A tentacle spears it through the abdomen, and it jerks, slumping forward. The monstrous form melts away to that of the human, bleeding and beaten. Both Killer and the human hit the ground with a resounding ‘thud’, and Nightmare steps back, picking an imaginary speck off of the front of his jacket.
“Horror, please bring them, and yourself, to the infirmary. I'll be sending Cross momentarily to help. Ensure Dust doesn't cause any problems, or I'll let her chew on him as well. I want her alive and well.” Nightmare fixes his gaze at them once more before disappearing into the shadows, leaving Horror to deal with the aftermath.
“you're way more alive…than you have any right to be…” He scowls at Killer, who just wheezes out a laugh as Horror cradles him and the human in each arm.
Killer snuggles into Horror's side playfully, wincing in pain at the movement. “worth it. get to play nurse with criss cross. it's been a while.”